Prolonged Summer Holidays
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Harry spends the last week of the summer holidays at the Weasleys. Unfortunately, all the children are sick with the wizard's measles, the flu or fever fudge... Pure fluff... Completely AU


**Prolonged Summer Holidays**

Harry sneezed several times as he dragged his suitcase and his broom out of the cupboard behind the stairs. '_Thank God Mr. Weasley is coming to get me today_,' he mused, holding on to the wall against the dizziness that had been bothering him ever since he got out of bed on the day before.

Yesterday, he had received an owl from Mrs. Weasley.

'_Dear Harry,  
I am so sorry to tell you that Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins have come down with the wizard's measles, which they obviously caught on their trip to Diagon Alley last week. Since the wizard's measles are very contagious and we don't want to get you sick as well, I think it would be better if you remained at your relatives' and met Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express next week. I'm very sorry, sweetie, and I'll send Arthur to check on you in any case_.'

Harry had been devastated at the news, until a thought came into his mind. He had been feeling under the weather as well from a few days after he had met his friends to buy his school necessities and had wondered what could be wrong with him. '_I probably caught the same as them_,' he thought and decided to reply to Mrs. Weasley accordingly. The older witch and Harry exchanged a few more owls, in which Mrs. Weasley enquired about his symptoms and since when he had felt ill, before she decided that he had apparently caught the wizard's measles as well, even if in his case the illness still seemed to be at an earlier stage, because he didn't have any rash yet.

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As soon as Mr. Weasley apparated right into the kitchen of the Burrow with Harry, Mrs. Weasley pulled the boy in a bear's hug, only to hold him at arm length to get a good look at him. "Oh my, that's a fever you're running," she exclaimed. "Off to bed with you this instant."

Harry obediently dragged himself upstairs to Ron's room, glad that Mrs. Weasley held him tightly in her arms, since he felt extremely dizzy. An instant later, he found himself in the spare bed in Ron's room, dressed in soft pyjamas, into which his friend's mother had transfigured his clothes, with a thermometer stuck in his mouth. As soon as Mrs. Weasley left the room to fetch a few items he might need, Ron scrambled out of his bed and sat on the edge of Harry's.

"Hey mate, good to have you here as well," he uttered, absentmindedly scratching his left foot. "Although I'm sorry that you're ill too. Don't let Hermione or my mum catch you scratch yourself. They get really annoying about it. But you don't seem to have a rash so far, do you?"

"Goe, I gogigo," Harry mumbled around the icy stick in his mouth. '_I don't have a rash, but I feel horrible_,' he thought as a violent shiver struck his body.

"Oh well, I better go back to my bed before Mum catches me. Be aware of the twins. Now that they can apparate, they pop in and out of here."

Harry smiled weakly, sighing in relief when Mrs. Weasley re-entered the room just when the annoying device in his mouth began to beep. The witch swiftly took the thermometer back and sighed. "Harry, you're running a high fever, and you will stay in bed at all times until it comes down a bit, even if I might allow the others to visit each other for a bit once or twice a day. Do you understand me?" she asked sternly.

"Yes Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied miserably, knowing that he had no ambitions to willingly leave his bed in the near future.

Harry was soon about to drift off into a much needed healing sleep, but he abruptly turned back to full consciousness when the twins apparated into the room, landing right on the edge of his bed.

"Hey Harrykins," they said simultaneously, grinning broadly.

"We heard that you were coming today..."

"...but don't you think you at least owed us a visit?"

"Sorry," Harry whispered.

"Oh well, we just wanted to tell you..."

"...that we're planning a Quidditch match tonight..."

"...as soon as Mum and Dad have gone to bed," the twins finished their sentence together.

Normally, Harry could laugh at their antics and found them very funny, but at the moment, he wanted nothing more than to be left in peace. He groaned inwardly when the door opened and Hermione and Ginny stepped into the room.

"Wow cool, let's have a party," the twins shouted in excitement, causing Hermione to throw them a menacing glare.

"Can't you see that Harry is feeling unwell?" she croaked. "Your mother allowed Ginny and me to spend five quiet minutes here, that's all." With that she sat on the edge of Harry's bed and gently removed an errand strand of hair from his face. "Oh my, even to me you feel hot, and I know that I have a moderate fever."

"I'm fine," Harry muttered, slowly reaching for her cool hand. "I'm glad to see you, Mione."

"It's good to have you here," Hermione replied hoarsely. "Now try to sleep for a while, you'll hopefully feel better afterwards." With that she turned to the twins and croaked sternly, "The two of you will take your leave right away, or I'm going to call your mother!"

"Don't make yourself so upset..."

"We merely wanted to pay our smallest brother a visit," the twins replied in their usual sing-song, before they apparated away at the same time.

"Go to sleep Harry," Hermione whispered and lightly brushed a kiss against his forehead, before she stood from the edge of his bed and sat on Ron's that Ginny had just vacated.

Ginny came over to Harry and sat next to him, carefully resting her achy head next to Harry's on the bed. "Hey sweetie," she whispered, causing Harry to turn to face her.

"Hi Ginny," he whispered back, lazily opening his sore eyes just a little bit. "Oh my, you got it worse than any of us," she said softly. "Hold on for a minute. I'm going to get you an ice-pack." A few minutes later, she returned with an ice-pack, which she gently adjusted to Harry's forehead, before she whispered, "Sleep, Harry. I'll be back later on."

A small smile stole itself on Harry's lips as he fully closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. During the next few days, he mainly remained asleep, only waking up when the twins popped in, Hermione and Ginny came to visit and tried to feed him soup he didn't want or when Mrs. Weasley busied herself fussing over him. As good as it felt to have people care about him, he felt so horrible that he wanted nothing more than to be left in peace.

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One day, Mrs. Weasley gave him a thoughtful look after plucking the thermometer from Harry's lips. "I wonder why I can't get your fever down. All of the others were merely running a moderate temperature after the first three doses of fever-reducer. Do you feel any better than when you came here?"

"Not really," Harry admitted in a small voice, still feeling utterly miserable.

Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at a tissue on his night table, transfiguring it into a spoon. "Let me take a look at your throat," she said softly, gently pushing his tongue down. "Your throat is still very infected. Harry, I'm beginning to wonder if it is something else that's ailing you and not the measles, considering that you still don't have a rash yet. Maybe I should call Madam Pomfrey. I really..."

She was interrupted when Ginny stormed into the room. "Mum, can you come and check on Hermione please. She says she feels very dizzy, and when I felt her forehead it was awfully hot as if she was running a high fever."

"I'm coming, sweetie," Molly said gently and cast a cleaning spell at the thermometer, before she coaxed it into Ron's mouth, noticing that he seemed strangely apathetic this morning. "Please take it out when it beeps and leave it on, so that I can check the result when I'm back," she instructed her son and left the room, mumbling something about calling Madam Pomfrey.

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When Molly entered the girls' room, she saw immediately that Hermione looked worse for the wear. "Hey sweetie, are you feeling worse today?" she asked softly, sitting on the edge of the girl's bed.

Hermione merely gave her a small nod and obediently opened her mouth, so that Molly could take her temperature. "Two degrees higher than yesterday. That's it. I'm going to ask Madam Pomfrey to check on you all," Molly said in determination as she proceeded to take Ginny's temperature that had gone up as well.

"Everyone except for Mr. Potter has the wizard's measles, but they're recovering nicely; Mr. Potter apparently had the Muggle flu, which has turned into pneumonia, and Hermione and Ginny obviously caught the Muggle flu from Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey explained to Mrs. Weasley after checking on all of them. "Absolute bed rest for the two girls and Mr. Potter, and all of the children may only ride on the Hogwarts Express on Friday if they're completely fever free."

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On the first of September, they were all feeling much better, but Mrs. Weasley decided they had to stay at home for another day or two.

"Mum, please, you just have to let us board the Hogwarts Express," Ron begged his mother, glancing at Harry and Hermione.

"Please, Mrs. Weasley, I'm well enough to go back to school, too," Hermione said, throwing the older witch a puppy dog eyes look. "We can always go to see Madam Pomfrey if we don't feel well later on."

"Yeah," Harry agreed softly in spite of not feeling all too well.

"I am definitely returning to Hogwarts today," Ginny said firmly, stomping a foot.

"No. You're all still running a temperature, except for Fred," Mrs. Weasley replied firmly. "Go back to bed and rest, all of you, and that's my last word. I will contact Professor McGonagall and tell her than I'm keeping you until Sunday. If you're well by then, you may take the train to Hogwarts, and since your classes won't begin until Monday, you won't miss anything. Fred, you may go and pack your things. I'll take you to the station in time, so you can get on the train."

"Yes Mum," Fred replied evenly, before he returned to his room and feverishly searched for a fever fudge, knowing that they still had a few of them in stock.

When Mrs. Weasley was busying herself checking on Harry and Ron again, knowing that she would be away for an hour to take Fred to the station, Fred suddenly entered the room.

"Mum, all of a sudden I don't feel so good anymore," he said, letting himself sink on the edge of Harry's bed.

As used to the twins' pranks as Molly was, at that time she was too occupied listening to Harry's ragged breathing and trying to figure out how to use the inhaler Pomfrey had ordered him to use if he had breathing problems, so that she absentmindedly shoved the thermometer into Fred's mouth and sent him back to bed after a glance at the display without questioning the matter.

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On Sunday morning, Harry noticed a faint rash spreading over his arms. '_Oh no_,' he groaned inwardly, resolving to hide it from Mrs. Weasley at any cost. '_She'll notice that I'm running a fever again though_,' a small voice at the back of his mind spoke up as a shiver ran through his body. However, Harry was lucky, and while Molly was taking his temperature, she was distracted by Ron's packing, and Harry managed to keep the thermometer loosely in his mouth, so that it didn't show any fever when Molly returned to his side to take it out.

"Very well, your fever is completely gone. You may all return to Hogwarts today," she decided, causing the children to sigh in relief.

However, during the train ride, Harry felt worse by the hour. "Maybe Mrs. Weasley should have asked Madam Pomfrey to check on everyone again, before we were allowed to board the train," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Harry, are you sure that you're all right? You look worse for the wear."

"I don't feel so good," Harry mumbled, absentmindedly beginning to scratch his arm. By the time they arrived at Hogsmeade, where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them, he felt so miserable that he barely noticed that Hermione told the professor he was sick, nor did he mind his Head of House taking him straight to the hospital wing on a stretcher. '_As nice as it was at the Weasleys', I'm glad to finally be back home_,' he mused, sighing in relief when the professor gently helped him into the bed right next to Madam Pomfrey's office.

**The End**

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes! _

_I'm only writing for my own pleasure and fun and for that of my kind readers who always support and encourage me by taking the few seconds to leave a comment.  
_

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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